


You Mean the World to Me and More

by grand_king_oikawa



Category: Free!
Genre: Implied Past Abuse, Implied Relationships, M/M, de-aged rin, for once, haru uses his damn brain, implied sex, makoto freaking out over haru's choices, overprotective sou, parental haru, parental makoto, so fluffy you'll wanna die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2015-06-05
Packaged: 2018-04-02 18:45:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4070626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grand_king_oikawa/pseuds/grand_king_oikawa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin has turned into a child. And Haru has to take care of him. Turns out Haru is actually a decent parent, despite some questionable parenting choices. However, there's a bigger problem: How do they turn their friend back to normal.<br/>ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Midnight Suprises

                Haru was about to fall asleep when he heard crying from outside his house. Groaning, he dragged himself out of bed to investigate the noise. Not that he cared why someone was crying, he just wanted it to stop. Growling, Haru opened the door, prepared to yell at whoever was making the racket. What he saw caused him to stagger backwards. A child, one that couldn’t have been more than 4 or 5, was standing on his doorstep. Haru stared. The child had shoulder length red hair and shark teeth, exactly like that of Rin Matsuoka.  Did Rin have a younger brother?  Haru scooped up the child in his arms, carrying him inside and quietly shutting the door.

                “So, what is your name,” Haru asked awkwardly, setting the child on the couch next to him. The child’s answer surprised him even more.

                “Rin, Matsuoka Rin, I have a girl’s name but I’m actually a boy.  Who are you mister?” The red-haired boy who was apparently Rin chirped. Haru started. There was no doubt in his mind the child was Rin, for only he would give such an answer, but apparently Rin didn’t remember anything past his current age, therefore, he wouldn’t remember Haru. The black haired swimmer wondered what the hell happened.

                “I’m Haru, Haru Nanase. Nice to meet you Rin-kun, do you have anyone I could call, to let them know your whereabouts?” Haru inquired. Rin shook his head before snuggling up to Haru. Upon closer inspection, the boy was wearing a tiny swimsuit and a tiny Samezuka jacket. What the fuck? Did the clothes shrink along with Rin himself? Haru stroked the tiny Rin’s head. He really was adorable as a kid. Haru smiled, lifting up Rin and setting him on his shoulders while the smaller child yawned. “Come on, it’s obvious you’re tired, let’s go to bed, we’ll figure shi- I mean stuff out in the morning,” Haru carried them up to his room, setting Rin on the bed, and tucking him in. He was about to leave to sleep on the couch when Rin’s tiny voice stopped him.

                “Haru-chan, sleep with me?” the tiny voice begged. Huge red eyes started into Haru’s blue ones. Sighing, the swimmer slouched back to his bed and lay down next to the child Rin, allowing him to snuggle into Haru before falling asleep. Haru groaned. He had so many questions, like how did Rin even get here in the first place if he didn’t remember Haru. It was going to be another one of those nights.

                When Haru eventually fell asleep, he only got a couple hours of it before having to wake up again. What woke him up was not his alarm clock, but Rin poking his face a murmuring “Haru-chan I’m hungwy.” Slowly, Haru eased his way out of bed, grabbing Rin, and heading down to his kitchen. He didn’t know if kids could eat mackerel or not and Rin needed to eat, so he hunted through his pantry for some oatmeal. The swimmer decided to ask Rin some questions while he prepared their breakfasts.

                “So Rin, how did you get to my house,” he asked, hoping he didn’t sound too hostile.

                “I dunno, a little voice told me to come here so I walked here. I dunno where I was, but it wasn’t too far,” Rin answered, playing with the zipper on his jacket. Haru realized that he would have to buy Rin clothing items. He didn’t know how long this child thing would last and it wasn’t like Rin could wear a swimsuit and jacket forever. The black-haired swimmer continued to cook in silence, pondering how he should go about the whole mess. Rin greedily ate the oatmeal Haru set in front of him, causing Haru to breathe a sigh of relief. At least the kid wasn’t a picky eater.

                “Hey Rin, let’s go,” Haru grabbed Rin’s hand, gently pulling the red-haired child to the door, “You need more clothes, and maybe, if you don’t make a mess or be annoying, a toy.” The mention of the word toy caused Rin to look up and give Haru a huge toothy smile. The usually emo swimmer couldn’t help but smile back.

                Makoto Tachibana almost shit himself three times that morning. The first time was because Haru came out of the house without him going in and dragging him out, the second was because Haru Nanase, the most anti-kid person you will ever meet, was carrying a child on his hip, and the third was because when Makoto questioned the kid, Haru had very bluntly stated that the child was Rin Matsuoka. Makoto had freaked out and asked a bunch of questions, all of which Haru had answered in a sentence or less.

“Oi Haru-Chan, Ohayo! Wait, is that a child?”

“Yes, it’s a child, and please don’t call me that,”

“Where did you get it might I ask, HARU DID YOU DO SOMETHING ILLEGAL?”

“No, the child is Rin Matsuoka, he showed up on my porch last night.”

“WHAT. YOU HAVE YOU BE KIDDING ME!”

“I’m not. Rin, introduce yourself,” Rin buried his head in Haru’s shoulder.

“It’s fine Rin, he doesn’t bite,”

 “Hey mister, I’m Rin Matsuoka, I have a girl’s name but I’m actually a boy,”

“I’m Makoto Tachibana, nice to meet you, I’m one of Haru’s friends. What the hell Haru, I mean, that is definitely Rin, but what happened, tell me everything,”

“I don’t know anything, he doesn’t remember anything past his age, that’s why he doesn’t remember any of us,” Haru walked down the steps.

“Where are you going, school is the other direction,”

“I’m ditching”

“Haru, you can’t ditch to go swimming,”

“I’m not swimming. I’m buying Rin clothes,”

“Ugh, fine”

“Good,” Haru carried Rin off towards the mall, leaving behind a very bewildered Makoto. When they got to the mall, Haru realized he had no clue what the hell he was doing. “So, Rin, what kind of stuff do you like,” Haru fidgeted awkwardly.

                “I like sharks and swimming,” the boy answered immediately, smiling brightly up at Haru. Haru grinned back.

                “First, let’s get you some shoes, I don’t think bare feet will work out for you much longer.” Why the hell had Rin not been wearing shoes when he changed. The child nodded, running to keep up with Haru’s larger strides. The first thing Haru bought was a cheap pair of red and black trainers that Rin picked out. Next, Haru bought Rin four shirts, one with a shark, another with titan Eren from SnK, a third with another shark, and the fourth was a Slipknot shirt. Haru doubted that Rin even knew what any of his shirts were, he probably thought it looked cool and Haru wasn’t about to argue with the child, The two also bought Rin two pairs of basketball shorts, two pairs of jeans, and swim goggles(Rin had begged, Haru had easily been persuaded.) Haru had also decided to buy himself coffee and a better breakfast for Rin. The red-haired boy sat across from the black-haired teen in his new slipknot shirt and basketball shorts, happily eating pancakes. Haru smiled. Rin was so cute, and this was so much better than boring-ass first period.

                “Arigato Haru-chan,” those three words caused Haru to blush and mutter “it’s nothing.” Once Rin finished, Haru scooped him up and carried him back to the train station before deciding to walk to school. It would be nicer anyways. He could show Rin the cherry blossoms. Needless to say, Rin was excited to walk with “Haru-nii-chan” to school. The walk itself would have taken 30 minutes, but it ended up taking an hour due to both Rin and Haru getting sidetracked(Rin by everything and Haru by water). When they finally got to school, the black-haired swimmer realized that he had no clue how to explain Rin to his teachers.  His thoughts were interrupted by a scream from Rin. “HARU-CHAN. CAN I GO IN THE POOL PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE?” Haru wanted to laugh. Of course Rin wanted to swim, he was fucking five after all. Haru was glad he bought the goggles. The small red-head was bouncing up and down, pulling on Haru’s uniform. Grinning, Haru walked towards the pool, a rather bouncy Rin in his wake.  When they reached the pool, Haru pulled Rin’s small suit out of his bag, handing it to the small child along with the goggles before stripping down to the suit he always wore himself. A flash of red streamed past Haru and splashed into the pool. Rin’s goggled head popped up with a huge grin on his face.  The black-haired swimmer dove into the water, making barely a splash, a stark contrast to Rin’s splashy cannonball. “Haru-chan, will you teach me to dive?”


	2. Rin's New "Family"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin meets the rest of the Iwatobi Swim Club. Nagisa is a little too excited. Rei can't handle anything. And Makoto can only sit and stare as Haru gets ordered around by a child.

“Yes,” Haru jumped out of the water gracefully, pulling a laughing Rin up with him. “First get into position,” Haru demonstrated his crouch to Rin on the side of the pool rather than the blocks. Normally, he’d go ahead and do it on the blocks, but he figured it was better to start out slow considering Rin’s young age and small stature. The red-headed child snapped his goggles against the back of his head before crouching down, imitating Haru. The black-haired swimmer smiled. The snap was the exact same as the older Rin’s but more adorable. His thoughts were interrupted by an excited Rin yelling “What’s next Haru-chan!” “Next, lean slightly back and launch yourself forward. Extend your arms out and try to enter as smoothly as possible,” Haru dove. Rin watched as his body gracefully flew into the water. “Now you try it,” Haru shook the water out of his hair. The smaller red-head reentered his crouch, and dove, attempting to copy Haru perfectly. The dive wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was pretty good for a 5 year old. Rin’s swimming was also exceptional for his body’s age.  That didn’t surprise Haru very much. A giggling, grinning Rin soon emerged from the water, splashing it everywhere and all over Haru.

                “Let’s do that again, that was super fun Haru-chan,” he grinned.

                “You wanna try it on the blocks this time? It’s basically the same motions, just aim a little more downwards. Here, how about I go first again,” Haru lifted himself out again, Rin close behind. Once again, Haru and Rin got into their crouches. The black-haired swimmer dove, careful to not go too fast so Rin could watch and attempt to copy his body movements. Haru looked up to see Rin launching himself off the blocks with a slightly larger splash than Haru’s. The child’s dive was not flawless, but it was certainly better than Rei’s first attempt. The dolphin of Iwatobi floated on his back, feeling more relaxed than he had in days. Here he was, in a pool, with none other than the child version of Rin, his old best friend. His daydreams were rudely shattered by a loud chorus of voices.

                “Haru-chan, I thought you said you wouldn’t swim. Get out of there right now we’re gonna get in trouble,” that was Makoto.

“HARU-CHAN, WHATCHA DOIN, WAIT WHO’S THE KID,” Nagisa’s voice floated overhead, causing Haru to wince and Rin to start.

                “Haru? What even…” Rei stared down at him disapprovingly. Sighing heavily, the black-haired swimmer clambered out, gesturing for Rin to do the same. With a little pout, he obeyed, running to Haru for warmth from the crisp air.

                “Alright guys, I’ll explain. But don’t talk,(looking pointedly at Nagisa) This child here, is Rin Matsuoka. Don’t ask me how he’s a child. He doesn’t remember any of us because he only remembers things up to his age. I don’t know. He showed up at my door last night and I couldn’t leave him out there by himself.  I wasn’t here because I was taking him shopping for clothes and before Makoto has a heart attack, Rin wanted to go swimming. This wasn’t my idea,” Haru said shortly while gently drying off Rin, “And before any of you ask, I’m not going to class in the afternoon and I won’t be at practice. Don’t worry I’ll tell Gou at practice tomorrow. But right now, I’m going to go buy food and take Rin to Samezuka and try to find Sousuke and explain what happened. You can’t stop me by the way. ” He was interrupted by Rin again.

                “Haru-nii-chan, who are these people with Mako-chan? They’re loud and scary,” Rin tugged at Haru’s swimsuit, looking up at him with his big red eyes. Haru glared pointedly at Nagisa for scaring his now “adopted” child.

                “I’m Ryuugazaki Rei, I swim butterfly.”

                “I’m Hazuki Nagisa, nice to meet you. I swim breaststroke for the Iwatobi Swim Club. Makoto swims backstroke, and of course Haru-chan swims freestyle.”

                Rin looked up at Haru’s teammates cautiously, holding his arms up to Haru to be picked up. The black-haired swimmer obliged. “I’m Matsuoka Rin, I have a girl’s name but I’m a boy.” Nagisa and Rei stared. They had thought Haru was joking, but this was definitely Rin and he had apparently wrapped Haru around his little finger. The little red-head held his arms out to Rei, who looked scared and inched away before tentatively taking the child in his arms. Rin giggled. “Rei-nii-chan, up! up!” Nagisa’s face lit up.

                “I wanna hold Rin please please please please please,” the smaller blonde bounced up and down and continued to do so until Rei gently handed him Rin who promptly poked him on the nose before squirming towards Makoto and lifting his arms. The back-stroker collected the small child, balancing him on his broad shoulders while Rin laughed and petted his hair. By the time he had returned to Haru’s side, lunch was almost over.

                “Hey Rin, wanna go visit a friend of mine. He goes to a different school  but I’m sure he would be happy to meet you,” Haru picked Rin up in a hug. Friend wasn’t exactly the right word to describe Haru and Sousuke’s relationship, but Rin in his current state wouldn’t understand the actual situation, considering most of the hostility between them was due to the older Rin’s situation.  The red-head nodded.

                “By nii-chans, ” he waved at the three figures that were slowly growing smaller as Haru carried them to the nearest train station. Makoto had opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it. He figured that now was probably the best time for Rin to meet Sousuke rather than later.

                On the way to the station, Haru had bought cheap popsicles for both him and Rin. Rin had finished his in 5 minutes and was now contentedly sitting on Haru’s lap as they rode the 12:05 train to the older Rin’s school. The 20 minute trip taught Haru one thing which was 5 year old Rin couldn’t read. They had spent the whole train ride with Haru patiently explaining to his red-haired charge what all the advertisements and road signs they passed said while Rin nodded and shook his red hair back and forth. Haru was dressed in his school pants and a random t-shirt he found in his bag. He had been too lazy to put the whole uniform on at school. When they reached Samezuka, Haru had another realization. He had no clue where Sousuke would be. He groaned internally.

                “Hey Rin, hold my hand okay, I don’t need you getting lost on me,” Haru reached for Rin’s hand as the child tried to run off. The two wandered around the campus, Haru giving dirty looks at anyone who stared too long and Rin attempting to eat leaves(Haru finally bought him a milk drink from the vending machine to keep him preoccupied).  After 10 minutes of nothing, Haru heard a voice calling his name. A deep voice. Sousuke’s voice.

                “Oi Haru, whatcha doing here, Rin’s not here today and where did you get that child.”

                “Hello Sousuke. I came here to talk to you about this child,” Haru turned around to face the taller swimmer.  Rin also turned and began to pull Haru towards Sousuke, a huge grin on his face.

                “Sou-chan! Sou-chan!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N) Rin will interact with the Iwatobi members more in later chapters.


	3. Love You Haru-chan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin meets Sousuke, who turns out to be even more protective of him. Haru proposes his theory to why Rin recognized Sousuke but didn't freak out over his age! Makoto freaks out over Haru's questionable parenting choices.

“Well Sousuke, I came here because this child is Rin and obviously he recognizes you. Did you two know each other before he was 5?” Sousuke nodded, confused. Haru almost shit himself. Rin had recognized Sousuke. But Rin only knew the 5-year old Sousuke, not the 16 year old, so why didn’t he freak out? This was all too much for Haru. He gently set Rin down, allowing the red-haired child to crash into Sousuke’s legs before continuing. “So basically, Rin is a kid. I don’t know why he’s a kid but he’s a kid. He doesn’t remember anything past his current age, so he forgot me and the rest of the swim club. Last night he showed up at my door. I took him inside with me.  I get why he recognized you, but I have no idea why he didn’t freak out. Rin should have only known the five-year old you but he recognizes you now. My theory is that he unknowingly retained small portions of his old memories, both emotional and muscle ones from when he was normal. That’s why he swims so well for a 5 year old. He also probably has more overall memories of people he was close to in that time period, that’s why he might recognize teenage you.”

                “I guess that’s plausible. Have you told anyone else yet?” Sousuke cuddled with the laughing child.

                “The swim team minus Gou found out. I was going to tell them tomorrow, but if we make this quick, I might be able to tell her today. And I need your help Sousuke. I need you to come up with a plausible excuse for Rin’s absence to his teachers. Don’t bother with the swim club. I’ll show them myself sometime soon.”

                Sousuke nodded, “That’s fine and you better do it. I wanna see this swim of his. I’ll do something, but in the meantime, if I even hear that Rin cried, you’re dead. I will personally rip you from limb to limb and feed you to the sharks, you hear. Don’t you dare hurt my little Rin or you will end up in pain you-,” Sousuke was interrupted by a little fist pounding his shoulder. He set Rin down only to have him kick him in the shins.

                “Bad Sou-chan, don’t hurt Haru-chan you meanie. If you hurt Haru-chan I’ll get Mako-chan to kick your ass,” Rin said in an attempt to sound threatening. Haru snickered. Big bad Sousuke being threatened by a 5 year old was hilarious by Haru’s standards. The larger Samezuka swimmer stood there in shock as Rin ran back to Haru, raising his arms in his standard ‘up’ motion. Haru obliged before turning and heading back towards the station. Now to show Gou what had happened to her Onii-chan.

                “I’M GONNA BE RIN’S DAD NOW UNTIL HE’S NORMAL,” Sousuke yelled at Haru’s back.

                “THAT MEANS YOU’RE MY SIGNIFICANT OTHER SOUSUKE, NEITHER OF US WANT THAT,” Haru yelled back. Both boys grimaced. Rin giggled.

                Much to Makoto’s surprise, Haru had magically appeared with Rin on his shoulders towards the end of practice. Haru was greeted by enthusiastic “Haru-chans” from all three members plus Gou who immediately made a beeline for Rin, which scared the red-haired child to the point of attempting to hide in Haru’s school blazer. Then came the part Haru dreaded all day: explaining Rin to Gou and likewise, Gou to Rin. Haru had no idea how much memory Rin had of Gou or how close they were. The usually silent black-haired swimmer had ended up starting out with introducing Gou to child Rin. Next came the tricky part. Rin hadn’t recognized Gou as well as he had Sousuke. The red-haired child had scrutinized her for about 30 seconds before coming to the conclusion that she looked like his little sister, Gou. That was a start, but it also made things super complicated for both Haru and Gou. Haru didn’t know how on earth he would explain to Rin that the red-haired girl in front of him was in fact his sister without bringing up bits about the old Rin. Haru ended up introducing Gou as “Kou-nee-chan” and that it was a coincidence that she and “Gou” looked alike. This caused Gou, or now “Kou” as all the Iwatobi swimmers were instructed to call her, to pout until she realized it was the best option at the current moment in time. After that, she had screamed, grabbing Rin and swinging him around in the air. Rin didn’t seem to mind this too much. Gou spent the rest of practice gushing over how cute her now baby brother was. Haru could see sparkles coming out of her.  By the time practice was over, Rin had fallen asleep on Haru, his little shark teeth grazing Haru’s shoulder. The swimmer retrieved Rin’s new Slipknot shirt from his bag, slipping it over his still-damp hair.

                “Well, I guess I’d better get going. He’s getting tired and I should probably feed him and put him to bed,” Haru scratched his ear awkwardly and turned, walking towards his house while Makoto raced to catch up, leaving behind 3 shocked people. The notion of Haru caring for a child, even though it was Rin, was unheard and unthought of. Haru hated children. Hell, Haru hated animals.

                “Haru, you can’t let Rin wear that, Slipknot is not appropriate for small children,” Makoto was in his freakout mother mode. Haru stared at him flatly.

                “He picked it out.”

                “You should have said no. Please don’t tell me the rest of his shirts are like this.”

                “They aren’t.”

                “What’s on them than?”

                “I don’t remember.”

                “God Haru. So how did the meeting with Sousuke go? Did Rin recognize him?”

                “It was fine. And yes, Rin knew Sousuke. I’m introducing him to the Samezuka team next week”

                “What are you going to feed Rin Haru, you can’t feed him your diet”

                “I don’t know.”

                “HARU”

                “What”

                “Goodnight Haru”

                “Goodnight Makoto, Rin say goodnight to Mako-chan”

                “Gnight Mako-nii-chan,”

                “Goodnight Rin”

The two headed up Haru’s steps and into his house. Haru set the sleeping Rin on the couch, hoping that his pantry rummaging wouldn’t wake the child up. Rin was adorable when he slept. His red hair flopped all over his face and his was sucking his thumb. Haru smiled and crept upstairs to his bed. He had been doing a lot of smiling lately. The swimmer opened his closet, something which hadn’t been done in months. He began digging around, scattering old clothes and swimsuits everywhere until he found what he was looking for. There. Huddled in the corner was an old stuffed dolphin, a gift from Makoto many years ago. Haru picked it up, attempted to replace the stuff he had removed(he failed at this), and crept downstairs cuddling the dolphin to his chest before gently tucking it underneath the sleeping Rin’s arm. The damn thing was almost as big as this red-haired child. As soon he released the dolphin, Rin had snuggled into it, making a cute, little noise of content.

After about ten minutes of fruitless searching, Haru had found two things of ramen, a bunch of rice and mackerel, oatmeal, some apples, and nothing else. He was too tired for this. He’d just go to bed now and if Rin woke up and was hungry, he’d make him something, maybe some rice. The black haired swimmer removed his shirt, school pants, and swimsuit before slipping on a pair of sweatpants. Haru gently scooped Rin up, making sure the dolphin was still there, and dumped him softly on his bed. Rin was still sucking his thumb and gently snoring. Haru smiled again. He could get used to this. Tomorrow, he’d have to go to class. Tomorrow, he’d have to go introduce Rin to Samezuka once again. Tomorrow was another new day with his current favorite living thing. Sighing, Haru quietly climbed into his bed alongside Rin. There was no use going to the couch. Rin would wake up, see Haru wasn’t there, and ransack the whole house until he found him so he could curl up against Haru’s warm body. Not that the Iwatobi swimmer minded that part. Haru closed his eyes. He felt a small, warm body press up against him. Instinctively, he put an arm around it, drawing it closer. If there had been light in the room, Haru would have seen Rin smile again. If Haru had been awake, he would have heard the soft “Love you Haru-chan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N) Don't you just love parental Haru, he's trying his best.


End file.
